Small Tool to change book order (PRS-x50)

[goaspy]

I've made a small tool to change the modified date on books on my PRS-650, so that I can choose the three books that are displayed on the home screen.

It helped me, so maybe it will help others, and it works on all x50 models and the 900.

With OrderBooks you can set your favourites on the Home Screen.

Screenshot - Mac version

Screenshot - Windows version

Current version:
- Mac 0.3.0 added 15-Jan-2010
- Windows 0.3.1 added 16-Jan-2010

User Guide:

1. Connect reader.
2. Start the application.

3. Update Books Path:
- in Windows version: set the Reader/Card drive letter. (first time only)
- in Mac version: set the Reader/Card volume name. (default is READER/CARD)

4. Press 'Fetch Books'.

5. In the 'Position' column write numbers starting from 1. I usually stop at 3, it's enough for Home screen.

6. Press 'Change Order'.
7. Disconnect reader (safe remove from windows/calibre/reader library)

Obs:

1. books can be displayed from Card, Reader, Reader + Card;

2. If the 'Future Dates' option is used, the date for the selected book will be set 2 years into the future. This way the book/books will remain on Home Screen even if you add new books to the reader.
Reseting future books is easy, just set a new position for the target book and 'Change Order' with 'Future Dates' deselected.

3. The Windows version works on Linux using Mono runtime and libraries.

Known issues:

If you use the 'author sort' feature from Calibre to change the author's name on the reader, from (fn ln) to (ln, fn), after you use OrderBooks to change the date of a book, the author resets to (fn ln).
The workaround for this problem is to trigger a metadata refresh in Calibre after using OrderBooks.

Enjoy!

[goaspy]

deleted

[SeaBookGuy]

I would find this useful, but I don't understand your instructions about "updating ..." and "fetching" books?

I'd like to see a way to return books that I've accidentally opened returned to "New" status, without having to delete and reload them.

[goaspy]

'Fetch Books' is just the name of the button, and it will get the list of books on your reader, if the path (default value i:\database\media\books) points to your reader. You may have to replace "i:" with another drive letter.

[edbro]

Sounds useful. Does this conflict with Calibre in any way?

[goaspy]

Originally Posted by edbro

Sounds useful. Does this conflict with Calibre in any way?

I don't think so, Calibre displays the Created date/time anyway and I only update de Modified date/time.

PS: The order is preserved only until new books are added.

[trekchick]

This is nice. Sometimes, the newest three books are the absolute last thing I want staring back at me from the front page.

[Gadget_girl]

Thanks a bunch for making this. It was exactly what I wanted. I needed to put the next few books I wanted to read on my home screen. They kept getting lost in the list on my reader.

[doreenjoy]

Thanks!

I like to keep the "next three books I intend to read" in those 3 spots on the home screen.

[grooks]

As I typically read 2-3 books at a time so it is helpful to have those 2-3 books on the home screen.

[SeaBookGuy]

I hadn't realized until I re-read this that it could be used to put books that have been newly added near the back as well, without having to reload all of the books from scratch?

That would be more useful for me.

[doreenjoy]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

I hadn't realized until I re-read this that it could be used to put books that have been newly added near the back as well, without having to reload all of the books from scratch?

That would be more useful for me.

Yes, you can use large numbers to order books toward the back.

Very handy for those who prefer to scroll through the Books by Date Added list.

[DuskyRose]

Very nice! Thanks!

I just wish there was a way to keep the three I've got up all the time, even though I'm constantly adding new books. When I'm out and about, I'm interrupted a lot by people who are curious about the Sony. I don't mind showing it off, but I'm usually reading pretty adult material, and need some 'safe' books to run to quickly. ; )

I like to use Sherlock Holmes for demonstrations, but they can take a minute or two to pull up. It'd be great if I could find a way to keep them up front and ready all the time.

[SeaBookGuy]

I've never been asked once about mine -- I wish folks would do so occasionally, let alone the wildly curious multitudes you encounter!

You might consider rapidly switching to a collection containing only the Holmes demo book?

[Under the Covers]

Lovely! Now I have only the books I want in my home screen. Thank you for offering it for the rest of us who don't do programming!